Chain conduit.



G. MONRATH 61; A. J. MOTTLAU,

CHAIR GONDUIT.

APPLICATION FILED we. 6. 1908.

Patented Aug. 3, 1909.

c a m m n m W x W m m w m m m a a UNTTTED STATES PATENT ()FFICE.

GUSIAVE MONRATH AND AUGUST J. MOTTTJAl/ OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

CHAIN CONDUIT.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 3, 1909.

Application filed August 5, 1908. Serial No. 447,013.

improvements in Chain Conduits, of which the following is aspecification, such will enable those skilled in the art to which itappertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to electric conduits and the object thereof is toprovide a conduit in the form of a chain for suspending electric lightfixtures and the like whereby the said fixture may be flexibly pendent;a further object being to provide such a chain conduit with a directpassage through the links or elements thereof for the electricconductors connected with said fixture and in such manner as to permitthe movement of the several elements or links upon each other in thenature of a chain; a further object being to provide such a conduitwhich is composed of a plurality of links exactly alike and which arereadily assembled to form a chain but which cannot be separated afterthe said con ductors have been passed therethrough and a still furtherobject being to provide such a device which is of sufficient strength tosupport any desired weight, which has the appearance of a chain andwhich gives op portunity for great diversity of ornamentation as well asbeing very simple in construction and use and comparatively inexpensive.

The invention is fully described in the following specification, ofwhich the accompanying drawings form a part, in which the separate partsare designated by the same reference characters in each of the views,and in which Figure 1 is a view of aplurality of links, constructedaccording to our invention, joined for use; and Fig. 2 is a sectionalview thereof taken on the line 2-2 of Fig. l.

in the drawings formin a part of this application, we have shown a chaincomposed of a plurality of separable links a, each of which comprises abody member a having an upwardly extending portion of and a downwardlyextending portion a, each of a length to approximately reach thecorresponding extensions of the contiguous links, as shown, and throughwhich is a assage a for the electric conductors, the atter not beingshown they form no part of this invention.

Secured at opposite sides of the body memher a are two upwardlyextending, curved arms a, formed in such manner as to closely simulatethe usual chain links, the ends thereof being preferably reduced toenter and be engaged by recesses a oppositely arranged in the bodymember a of the upper contiguous link a and at right angles to thepositions of the arms a thereon, said reduced ends being shown at a insaid engagement.

The links a are exactly alike and if the axial line of one be at angleto the axial line of another, the arms a may he passed into engagementwith the corresponding recesses a after which the two links may bebrought into the same axial line, this operation being repeated for eachof the links required to give a desired length of chain and, when soformed, or united, the links are not separable while remaining in thesame axial line be cause of the contiguity of the ends of the extensionsa and (0 and, after the electric conductors have been passed through thecontinuous passage so produced, the links cannot be separated at all forthe reason that the said conductors do not permit sufiicient pivotalmovement of one link upon another, but the passage a is made of greatenough diameter to permit some play and thereby produce considerableflexibility in the assembled chain, sufficient for the effect and resultdesired.

it will be seen that each link has a pivotal movement in but onedirection upon its supporting link, the direction of these movements,however, in the successive links, be ing at right angles to each otherand thereby producing flexibility of the chain in all directions in themanner of a universal joint and, while in the preferred form shown Weprefer to have the links separable, it will be obvious that the recessesa may be simple holes and the arms a be bent inwardly in assembling thechain and thus prevent accidental separation of the links during theinstallation of our invention, and various other changes in andmodifications of the preferred form shown may be made without departingfrom. the spirit of our invention or sacrificing its advantages.

Having fully described the invention, what we claim as new and desire tosecure by Let ters Patent, is

1. A chain, comprising a plurality of tubes arranged end to end inregister with each other and links connected with said. tubes andadapted for engagement with the contiguous tubes at an angle to the linkthereof.

2. A chain, comprising a plurality of tubes arranged end to end inregister with each other and links integrally formed. upon each oi saidtubes and adapted for engagement with a contiguous tube.

3. A chain, comprising a plurality of tubes arranged end to end inregister with each other, links integrally formed. upon each of saidtubes and each of said tubes being recessed to receive the links of acontiguous tube.

4. A chain, comprising a plurality of tubes arranged end to end, inregister with each other, and links formed upon each of said tubes andadapted for engagement with a 1 contiguous tube.

5. A chain, comprising a plurality of tubes arranged end to end, inregister with each other, links formed upon each of said tubes and eachof said tubes being recessed to receive the links of a contiguous tube.

6. A chain, comprising a plurality of tubes arranged end to end, inregister with each other, and links connected with each of said tubesand adapted for engagement with a contiguous tube, at an angle to thelinks thereof.

In testimony that we claim the foregoing as our invention we have signedour names in presence of the subscribing witnesses this 4th day ofAugust 1908.

GUSTAVE MON RATH. AUGUST J. MOTTLAU. Witnesses:

J. FREDERICK ORYER, J. O. LARSEN.

